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In December 2020, a lengthy message arguing that COVID 19 does not exist was widely circulated on social media. This post proved popular in part because it was attributed to a person who seemingly had the credentials to make such a determination: Dr. Rob Oswald, a virologist and immunologist at Cornell University's Department of Molecular Medicine. Here's the introductory paragraph of this viral message: While the included image in this viral post does show a real person named Oswald, he did not write this post. Purveyors of misinformation often falsely attach trusted names to fraudulent claims in order to make their misinformation appear more credible. If a doctor wrote this post, then the logic goes, there must be something to it. But Oswald had nothing to do with the viral message posted above. This text has been circulating online since at least Dec. 6, when an anonymous Blogger named Sojourner posted it in the comments section of an article published at Wadeburleson.org. At the time, the text was not attributed to Oswald or any other medical professional, and the post's apparent author, Sojourner, noted in another comment that he/she was not a professional, was merely a hillbilly, and had simply copied and pasted the message. Since many people may not find an anonymous message posted by a hillbilly to be credible, subsequent versions of this post falsely claimed that the message had originated with a reputable source, Oswald. But that, of course, is not the case. Shortly after this message went viral, Oswald updated his webpage at Cornell University to include a statement about COVID-19. He wrote: When we reached out to Oswald, he elaborated and told us that he was horrified by the contents of this message, and that this post was not connected to him or Cornell University. Oswald said: In addition to saying that neither he nor the university had anything to do with this message, Oswald also explained that the contents of this viral message were also dubious. Oswald said:
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